It Takes a Village

I've heard the saying "It takes a village to raise a child," and after today's meeting at UCSF boy did I found out how true that is. Who would think that my 15 day old baby now has her own team of cranio-facial experts. This team includes the infant plastic surgeon, hospital director, nurse, orthodontist, speech therapist, ENT, geneticist, and social worker/therapist. Today we were able to meet with 5 out of the 8 team members. Yes, you heard correctly my baby with no teeth has already been seen by an orthodontist and despite having no sounds other than crying has a speech and language therapist. It is all very overwhelming especially when they said even after the surgery she will have yearly appointments with the entire team until she is around college age. My overall impression was that all the specialists were very kind, knowledgeable, and thorough. We were there for 3 hours and return again in 3 weeks to meet with the whole panel and see how her mouth is growing. If we go with their team, the surgery will be in the fall, but I meet with another cranio-facial team next Friday to compare. I was very pleased today with what I saw. The plastic surgeon is the Chief of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at UCSF. He graduated cum laude from Yale University. He does about 50 cleft repairs a year and has done over 1,000. He is the current President of the American Society of Pediatric Plastic Surgery and has been voted one of America's top doctors several years in a row. Cleft palate and lip are his specific areas of interest. He even travels to third world countries to provide the surgery for babies in need. Hannah is so good. She never cries even when all the different people poke at her. We are hopeful that all she will require is the repair, but understand that it may be a long road as many children with cleft can have speech delay, ear problems, brain deficits, and dental problems. We think she is very smart and believe she will pick up on things quickly once she has the surgery. I was happy to hear that the 'm' sound doesn't require a palate so she should be able to say mama. Dada on the other hand requires the palate so poor Tim will have to wait. He knows she loves him anyway. All in all we were pleased with our first visit. Overwhelmed with how intensive the whole thing is and sad that our precious baby has to go through all this at such a young age, but she is a trooper and perfect in every way!